Hello from the South Carolina lowcountry

We've been longtime readers of BYC, but this is our first post to a forum. We made the leap to move to SC from eastern PA in July (couldn't take the winters anymore), with our dogs and two Redstar ladies, and have since added a Serama hen and roo. We've finished construction on a nice new coop with plenty of space for them, and are now looking to add to the flock. We are looking for 8-10 new chicks/young hens so we are unable to meet minimums for mail order. But I'm having difficulty finding any breeders here in SC...

We are hoping to find heritage breeds that are docile and tolerate staying in the coop and run. We love our Redstars but have learned that because of their breeding and genetics are very prone to health problems associated with egg laying (we lost 3 of our original 5 to these issues). We enjoy their eggs but prolific production isn't necessary, these are going to basically be pets. Any suggestions as to types of breeds as well as where we might be able to find them available would be greatly appreciated. We don't mind travelling a bit. We love BYC and look forward to now being more apart of the community.

Hello and Welcome To BYC! X2 on the BYC Breeds section, the Henderson chicken breed chart also compares a lot of popular breeds, http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html#j Wyandottes, Orpingtons, Sussex and Delawares are all popular breeds that are decent egg layers and have nice temperaments, if you like more pet chickens and don't care as much about eggs, silkies and cochins seem to be the most popular. Check out your state thread for people in your area in case some one local has what you are looking for. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/127943/south-carolina Meyer Hatchery and the broker My Pet Chicken, both have three chick minimums... if you are getting chicks in the spring you might consider getting the 15-25 chicks most hatcheries have as a min as sexed pullets and selling any extras, usually pullet chicks are really easy to sell.